Taxi Driver Online

More than 170 drivers arrested after cab touting crackdown

Over 170 arrests have been made for cab related offences during two crackdowns as part of Operation Safer Travel at Night, a joint initiative by the Transport for London funded Metropolitan Police Service’s Safer Transport Command (STC) and City of London Police (CoLP). 



The arrests were the result of continued targeted enforcement against un-booked minicabs (also known as touts or illegal cabs) and other cab-related offences across the capital as part of Safer Travel at Night – a partnership between TfL, the Mayor of London, MPS and CoLP to reduce cab-related sexual offences. 

In conjunction with Safer Travel at Night’s two main periods of activity – during the new academic year in September and over the festive period in December – officers from the STC, CoLP and TfL’s Taxi and Private Hire compliance teams stepped up activity to help raise awareness of the dangers of using un-booked minicabs.

In addition to the arrests, officers stopped and checked over 5,000 taxi and private hire vehicles and drivers. TfL’s face to face teams also engaged with over 77,000 students during September, which included a presence at 24 university freshers’ fayres across London. 

TfL’s Cabwise app saw download figures double to 53,000 during the festive period - with total downloads now standing at 92,000 since its launch in 2012.

Face to face teams also visited around 50 bars, pubs and clubs in hotspot locations, engaging with over 55,000 people and handing out 138,000 ‘Z cards’ – information leaflets on how to get home safely.

Steve Burton, TfL’s Director of Enforcement and On-Street Operations, said: “We’re really pleased with the effort and work put in by our policing partners and TfL teams to get the safety message out to the public about how to get home safely. Un-booked minicabs put the travelling public at risk and we are committed to cracking down on this illegal and unsafe activity. TfL, working with the police, will continue to push for the strongest penalties for those caught acting unlawfully.

”

The Safer Travel at Night partnership was launched in 2002 and aims to improve the safety of travelling at night via cabs through industry regulation and licensing, enforcement and education. The communications campaign aims to make people travelling at night aware of the dangers of picking up un-booked minicabs off the street, as well as informing them of the best ways to get home safely.

Acting Chief Superintendent Rob Revill, Safer Transport Command, said: “These results demonstrate our commitment to tackling touting and other illegal cab activity in London. Our dedicated Cab Enforcement Unit will continue to be out on the streets of London, all year round, using a variety of tactics to disrupt, deter and detect cab related offences.”

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IDFIMH

They must have thought for hours before coming up with that name.

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Grandad,

Over 170 London minicab drivers . . .

Good.

I was stopped near Kingston, on my way home after dropping off my last passenger for the day.

Didn't mind stopping for a few minutes while police did their checks - which didn't take long, since no passenger on board.

Interesting to see a couple of other cars there, whose drivers looks like they've been there a while....

Also a couple of Home office Immigration vans were present.

I got this via a TfL press release. Not sure whether it's good news, or less bad news.

In 2012/13, official crime figures from the MPS showed that cab-related sexual offences were over 30 per cent lower than they were in 2002/03 when Safer Travel at Night began (55 fewer offences). The number of rape offences almost halved over the same period. Year to date figures for 2013/14 (April - November) are showing further reductions. There have been 71 cab-related sexual offences between April and November - 24 per cent lower (23 fewer offences) compared with the same period last year. Rape offences were down 44 per cent over this period (from 18 to ten offences).

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IDFIMH

Nah its dishonest lying Tory porpoganda..................re a case they recently lost fekking [edited by admin]

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All posts by this contributor are made in a strictly personal capacity

I AM PROUD TO BE A CITIZEN NOBODY'S SUBJECT http://www.republic.org.u

F88K EM ALL WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

BOOZE BOOZE BOOZE

When the London mini cab bosses stop trawling the world for cheap labour and cut their vehicles by 30%, them maybe people who have a checkable background will prevail, opposed to the never ending stream of foreign nationals with their uncheckable 'good conduct' certificates bought from Inspektor Takabungovitch in Timbuktu.

It might even help eradicate touting on the scale that we see today.